The great British seaside treat fish & chips gets a vegan makeover with delicious, flaky marinated banana blossom fish, cooked in a light and crisp beer batter.
🍴Why you will love this recipe
Recreating a vegan version of Britain's favourite seaside treat, fish 'n' chips, is made possible with this delicious and intriguing ingredient, banana blossom. Don't worry - it doesn't taste anything like bananas!
I can't give you sunshine, sea or salty air, but I can give you the most epic vegan fish and chips you have tasted, using marinated banana blossom cooked in a light and crisp beer batter.
Serve this with homemade chips cooked in the same oil, and you will have a truly memorable quintessentially British fish and chip supper, without ever missing the fish.
🌱 What is Banana Blossom?
Banana blossom is, quite literally, a flower or 'blossom' that grows at the end of a cluster of bananas. It has been a traditional food in South-East Asian and Indian cuisines for a long time, but has only recently become trendy in the west with the recent surge in demand for meat-free and fish-free foods.
It has a flaky texture, whilst still being quite chunky and juicy. A perfect substitute for the texture of fish. Banana blossom doesn't really have a strong flavour of its own, so is usually marinated before cooking. I've used seaweed / nori in the marinade which really gives a taste of the sea, but you can play around with the ingredients and quantities in the marinade to suit your own taste.
📝 What you need
Ingredients
Banana blossom is quite widely available in supermarkets these days, or you can order online - I like this Biona Organic one, or you can buy the Cooks & Co tins in bulk if you eat a lot of fish & chips!
Seaweed thins / crisps or nori This gives a lovely seaside flavour to your 'fish'. I've found seaweed thins / crisps in a lot of supermarkets recently - they don't really float my boat as a replacement for a packet of crisps, but as a seaweed seasoning for vegan fish dishes they are excellent. Look out for these Itsu ones which are good, or you can use a sheet of sushi nori which you might have leftover if you've made my Vegan Sushi Platter.
Beer makes such a crispy batter - it has tiny little bubbles which form minuscule air pockets for the oil to get in for a super-crispy and quite light tasting batter. But if you don't want to use beer, sparkling water will do a very similar job.
Oil for frying You can use a vegetable or sunflower oil for frying - anything that is fairly flavourless and has a high smoke point, (definitely not olive or coconut oil).
Equipment
A few things I find particularly helpful for making this vegan battered 'fish' are:
- Kitchen thermometer This really takes a lot of the fear out of frying for me, (see below!). I have a thermometer from Thermapen (which was a gift – see sponsored recipe here) which I really love, but any kitchen thermometer will be fine. This allows you to get the oil up to the correct temperature for frying, then monitor it as you cook in case it rises or drops.
- Tongs A good pair of tongs are very useful for getting the fillets in and out of the hot oil… please be careful! I like these from OXO.
- Lidded frying pan A good quality frying pan that is fairly deep is important for frying. Always make sure you have a tight-fitting lid close by, so if your oil was to start smoking or a fire started, you could immediately remove it from the heat and put the lid on. I like this lidded sauté pan from Circulon.
👩🏽🍳 How to make your banana blossom fish
For a full, printable recipe with ingredients and detailed instructions, scroll to the bottom of this page 👇🏼.
Make a marinade from soy sauce, lemon juice and garlic. Crush nori sheets into small flakes and stir through.
Drain the banana blossom and toss through the marinade. Leave for 3-4 hours or overnight. Whisk together flour, cornflour and beer into a smooth batter.
Prepare the marinated banana blossom, a plate of flour and shallow bowl of batter. Press banana blossom into a fish-sized fillet.
Coat the fillet in the flour then repeat to make a second fillet. Heat the oil then when ready to fry, coat the fillets in batter and drop into the pan with tongs. Fry until golden brown all over then drain excess oil, coat in salt and vinegar and serve with chips.
👩🏽🍳 Top Tips for deep frying
Anything involving a pan of hot oil gives me the heebie-jeebies, but it doesn’t need to be scary. Here are a few top tips:
- Use about 2-3cm oil, and make sure it comes no more than half way up the sides of the pan, so there is room for it to bubble up the sides.
- Check the oil temperature as it heats, and whilst cooking – it should stay close to 180°C / 350°F. See above for a recommended thermometer.
- Use long-handled tongs or a large slotted spoon to get your 'fish' in and out of the oil, and allows excess oil to drain.
- Don’t fry very wet food to avoid splatters. Make sure you squeeze the moisture out of the marinated banana blossom before battering.
- Don’t leave hot oil unattended even for a moment, and keep kids out of the kitchen.
- Keep a close-fitting lid close by, in case the oil should catch fire. If you don’t have a lid, a baking tray would do.
To dispose of the cooking oil, please don’t pour it down the sink or drain – it can cause serious blockages. Small quantities of oil can be disposed of with your food waste, or you can recycle larger quantities at household recycling centres in the UK.
Frequently Asked Questions
A proper 'fish' & chip supper is made extra special by all the bits on the side. As it is a fairly occasional treat, I like to go the whole hog with:
Homemade chips cooked in the same oil as the banana blossom fish.
Homemade ketchup like my epic Beetroot & Chilli Ketchup .
Mushy peas which I make quite simply by boiling peas, draining them then mashing with a potato masher with a little vegan butter. Or if you want a more authentic chip shop flavour, there's a good BBC recipe using Marrowfat Peas - just replace the butter with vegan block margarine.
Salt and vinegar mustn't be skimped on.
Pickled onions but they must be really big and very sharp ones, (not the puny little silverskins you get on sticks!)
....and of course your very own homemade Vegan Tartare Sauce!
Banana blossom isn't the only way to re-create a battered fish-style fillet at home. You can also try 'tofish' - fish made from tofu.
Slice a block of extra-firm tofu, (I use Tofoo or sometimes Cauldron), into three large, flat slices. Squeeze out any excess moisture and pat it dry with kitchen paper. Use the same marinade as the banana blossom recipe below to marinate it for 3-4 hours or ideally overnight in the fridge.
Then just continue with the recipe from step 5. below, coating the tofu fillets in flour then batter, and frying until crisp and golden.
Banana blossom is a flower or 'blossom' that grows at the end of a cluster of bananas. It has been a traditional food in South-East Asian and Indian cuisines for a long time, but has only recently become trendy in the west with the recent surge in demand for vegan and fish-free foods.
⭐️ Reader Testimonials
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "I've just finished eating my fish and chips and have to take my hat off to you for such a great recipe. Although I haven't eaten fish for years, I'd say this is a very convincing substitute. Thanks for sharing!" Richard
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Yep - only made the 'fish' but really good. Definitely do it again. Thank you." Rosie
🍽 If you liked that...
.... you might also enjoy these vegan recipes from The Veg Space:
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Banana Blossom Fish
Ingredients
For the marinated banana blossom:
- 2 tablespoon rapeseed or sunflower oil
- 2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 lemon
- 2 cloves garlic
- 5 g seaweed thins / crisps or 1 sheet nori (sushi wrapper)
- 1 tin banana blossom (400, or 250g drained weight)
For the batter:
- 75 g self-raising flour plus a little extra for coating the fillets
- 2 teaspoon cornflour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 135 ml beer (check it is vegan) or sparkling water if you prefer
- oil for frying
Instructions
To marinate the banana blossom:
- In an airtight container with a lid (such as a tub or tupperware box), mix the oil, soy sauce and juice of the lemon. Peel the garlic cloves and give them a bash with the flat side of your knife. Add a generous seasoning of salt and black pepper.
- Take the seaweed thins or nori sheets and crush them into small flakes or a powder - either in a pestle and mortar or a mini-chopper / small blender. Add them to the marinade.
- Drain the tin of banana blossom and rinse thoroughly under a cold tap.
- Dry out as much as possible with kitchen paper then put it into the tub and use your hands to mix it around until it is fully coated with the marinade. Put in the fridge for 3-4 hours or ideally overnight.
To make the batter:
- Weigh the flour, cornflour and salt in a large jug or bowl.
- Add the beer and whisk until it is a smooth batter. It should be a pouring consistency, a bit like double cream. If it is too thin, add a little more flour, and if too thick add more beer or water.
- Get your marinated banana blossom out of the fridge, and remove the garlic cloves. Tip some extra flour onto a small plate. Pour the batter into another shallow bowl or plate.
- Dust your hands with a little flour, then pick up half of the banana blossom. Push the pieces together firmly, squeezing out as much liquid as possible. Squash it into roughly the shape of a fish fillet.
- Thoroughly coat the banana blossom fillet with flour. Repeat with the remaining banana blossom to make a second fillet.
- Pour oil into a wide pan until it is 1-2cm deep. Heat it until it reaches 180°C (or if you don't have a thermometer, stick the end of a wooden spoon or chopstick into the oil. If you see lots of bubbles form around the wood, your oil is ready for frying. If it is bubbling hard, the oil is too hot; let it cool a bit and check the temperature again).
- Dip one floured fillet into the beer batter, turning over a few times until it is fully coated.
- Use a pair of tongs to put your fillet into the oil. Repeat for the second fillet.
- Cook the banana blossom fillets for 4-5 minutes on each side, turning regularly.
- Remove them with tongs onto a piece of kitchen paper to drain excess oil. If you are cooking chips, now is the time to cook them.
- Serve with salt and vinegar, ketchup, tartare sauce and a squeeze of lemon. Delicious!
Video
Notes
- Use about 2-3cm oil, and make sure it comes no more than half way up the sides of the pan, so there is room for it to bubble up the sides.
- Check the oil temperature as it heats, and whilst cooking – it should stay close to 180°C / 350°F. See above for a recommended thermometer.
- Use long-handled tongs or a large slotted spoon to get your 'fish' in and out of the oil, and allows excess oil to drain.
- Don’t fry very wet food to avoid splatters. Make sure you squeeze the moisture out of the marinated banana blossom before battering.
- Don’t leave hot oil unattended even for a moment, and keep kids out of the kitchen.
- Keep a close-fitting lid close by, in case the oil should catch fire. If you don’t have a lid, a baking tray would do.
Nutrition
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Debie Debie Lee says
I would like to know how to prepare the banana flower using the real and actual banana flower from our farm. Also what if you don’t have the seaweeds and tandoori, can I go without these ingredients.
Rosie Sessarego says
Yep - only made the 'fish' but really good. Definitely do it again. Thank you.
Kate Ford says
That's great to hear, thanks Rosie x
Richard says
I've just finished eating my fish and chips and have to take my hat off to you for such a great recipe. Although I haven't eaten fish for years, I'd say this is a very convincing substitute. Thanks for sharing!
Kate Ford says
That's really great to hear, thanks Richard!
Desicart says
so yummy!! i love it! i ll definitely try it!!
Beth says
Yum! This looks so delicious and so tasty! My family is going to love this recipe! Can’t wait to make this soon!
Claudia Lamascolo says
I love how tropical this dish is I had something in Jamacia like this before I am def making this soon!
Gail Montero says
We love banana blossoms in the Philippines so this recipe is right up my alley! Looks so amazing!
Michelle says
This is such a creative use of banana blossom! Can't wait to try it for meatless Mondays! It looks so delicious!
April King says
I can't wait to try this. It looks so yummy and I love trying new things.